Fire and Steel
by LightTrain
Summary: Rasputin, the all powerful Warmind who's origins predated the Traveler's arrival, was now awake, and very pissed. Deciding it was high time to take back the system from the darkness, he sets plans into motion to prepare for his re-entry to the front lines. As part of a test, he sends an offer to one of the very guardians that helped defeat Xol. A new era shall donn.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, This is just a new idea I have for the world of Destiny, and I ended up loving it so much I ran with it. But, as with all my ideas, my enthusiasm has faded some.**

 **I will NOT be regularly updating this story. Sorry if you wanted regular updates, but its reaching the end of the year and things get hectic. Hell, the second chapter may take a while on it's own. I had a couple of great ideas, but now that I think about them I don't have a great follow through for this stuff.**

 **TBH, I'm writing this ENTIRE story on the fly. I have no grand plan, just a few ideas that sounded fun. This will most likely be a fun story, but I may throw in some 'challenges'. Any and all suggestions to add to this story that are fun/ funny are appreciated, cause I'm running out of ideas.**

* * *

Rasputin- He was designed to be the epitome of the Golden Age, the greatest, most complex A.I. in existence for the sole directive of protecting humanity. When the forces of Darkness came, he fought. He really did, but in the end it was becoming too much. He had to retreat in a sense. Across the system, he had his assets put into a slumber for MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. All of his forces went dark for the sake of self preservation- After all, if he went down, how could he hope to fulfill his directive? He would have to trust humanity's natural ability to go against innumerable odds.

Decades later after the collapse, a fragment of him was reawakened unintentional by the Lords of Iron. Even if it was little more than a fragment of his greater being, he was still smart enough to not trust the humans who had come in search of SIVA, a network of nanomachines capable of building or repairing almost anything. The problem was, they were chasing after the wrong strain of Siva. He didn't budge at their attempts of reasoning, and when they decided to storm the cosmodrome to take it by force- he showed how much of a mistake they had made.

Using both his warsats and the SIVA itself, he fought back, killing almost all of the forces that attacked. A few of the higher ranking ones had managed to seal replication chamber 6 and damage some of those systems, but it didn't do much. The fallen managed to find chamber 6 again anyways, creating another debacle. Luckily the guardians got involved with that conflict and destroyed Chamber 6, preventing outside use ever again.

When the Traveler awoke, the core of his mind on Mars also awoke. Realizing the icecaps he had created to freeze the hive and prevent them from invading his world were melting. He started plunging the warsats down on the world around him, in attempts to kill some of the hive that were awakening. Even if that didn't end up doing much, he was getting rid of those satellites anyways.

When the guardians came, he was originally untrusting of them, but he had to work with them out of necessity. That partnership helped him all but destroy the threat of the Hive entirely, and while more were still bred- his Escalation towers, coupled with the constant presence of guardians at Clovis Bray, helped him lower the threat level every single time it rose. Having turned into a partnership of sorts, he helped the guardians by providing new and more powerful Ikelos weapons for them to use to vanquish the darkness, and they helped by both protecting him and regularly clearing out the hive and cabal for 'fun' and loot. Mostly loot, which Rasputin was happy to provide for those who proved themselves.

And while all that was working out, he had been observing the guardians more closely. Their almost inability to die coupled with unusually fierce courage helped make them almost better soldiers than pre-collapse. In fact, it was part of the reason he had been creating a few of his own new protocols to test his hand at this himself. While he could not recreate the traveler's ghosts and how they worked yet, in their most essential form, they were technology.

His first idea (of millions that would follow) was to capture one of these ghosts and study/subjugate it, but he knew that would anger the Vanguard and the guardians he relied on to exterminate the Hive, so for the moment, that was out of the question. The next idea he had was probably the most viable. Instead of taking what he wanted, he would find the most likely candidate to both accept his offer and remain loyal, and offer him a choice.

If they accepted, he would turn them into a new weapon, forged in his own power, and give them access to some of his newest and most powerful designs, and in turn he could study them and their ghost. If they refused, they would be mind wiped and returned. After running through a couple hundred thousand simulations, he decided to try it out. He knew how much could change if this was successful, and he knew how much could go wrong if it wasn't.

* * *

Raith, nicknamed Wraith for both his first name and his love of stealth, was currently patrolling around on Nessus, both picking around the wreckage of the Exodus Black and killing the fallen who were hell bent on doing the same. He was plugging away with his hand cannon at a couple of dregs and a vandal perched on some rocks, getting mostly headshots and a couple body shots, not that he cared. Unlike most Hunters, he didn't flaunt his headshots or kills, he saw that for what it was, annoying and vain. No, he didn't care about that, all of his feats spoke for themselves anyways.

"Captain- Detecting Vex presence nearby." Failsafe announced. The hunter dropped the last vandal, who made the mistake of poking his head up from cover, and looked around for the usual telltale signs of Vex teleporting in. Finding none, he turned back, only to find himself face to face with a goblin, who promptly flung him back with a void blast. Cursing, he tucked and rolled before coming out to a kneel and dispatching the few goblins that had appeared.

 _Erw_ "Told you." Failsafe's evil twin commented. Raith groaned before standing up and reloading. More vex storms appeared around him so he readied a grenade at the closest one. Once they appeared, a few harpies were blown to bits by a void grenade, and the trail of purple fire it left to either side of him damaged a few other goblins. He took his time, walking backwards while cracking the Vex's mind containers with bullets. When there was only one goblin left and his mag was empty, he rushed forwards, knife out. Right before he could sink his blade into the Vex's all important mind core it teleported away, leaving him to stumble for a second before regaining his footing.

Turning to the sole Goblin, fury was evident as he looked at the blade then looked back up at the Vex, as if in disbelief. He did this twice more before switching polarities and instead tossing said knife, which was now flaming, into the core of the soon to be very dead Goblin. The goblin tried to back off, but its container was impaled- and the knife promptly exploded, killing the Vex in a spectacular flaming explosion. He nodded in approval before reloading his weapon and switching back to Nightstalker.

A small noise was heard as his Black and gold shelled ghost manifested. She gave him a glare before he was promptly rammed in the helmet a few times and shocked by the small drone.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, I get it, I get it! No switching polarities that quickly!" Raith apologized. His Ghost, Bast, 'hmmphed' before moving back some.

"You always say that but you always end up doing it again! Can you even go two missions without doing that?" She asked, clearly annoyed. He sighed, knowing he was in the wrong.

"I'm sorry, but he dodged my knife! You know I can't stand that!" He complained.

"Then stay as Solar so you can throw knives!" She retorted. He huffed in annoyance.

"But I like Nightstalker…"

"You don't always have to be solar, just give me TWO MINUTES IN BETWEEN POLARITIES for Light's sake." She fumed before infusing into him again. He sighed in defeat before continuing along his trek, summoning his sparrow before making his way over to where Failsafe resided. A few other guardians were taking on a big Vex Minotaur nearby, but it looked like they had it handled, so he continued on, taking less than a minute to reach Failsafe's main entrance. The last surviving piece of the Exodus Black. As he dismounted and walked up the tilted entrance to meet the A.I. she gave her usual greeting.

"Welcome aboard captain!" _erw_ "Still alive huh."

"Yep, Still alive. I also got some goodies for you. You too Failsafe." He announced, addressing the both of them.

"Oh, please upload them soon captain!" _erw_ "Today's been super boring. Wait- that's every day." _erw_ "My point still stands captain, the only respite I get is from reading those data lattices."

Raith chuckled at the back and forth before summoning Bast to upload them. Now in a safe space, he took off his helmet, revealing an Aqua marine Exo face with two small antennas for ears, which he lowered back into their usual position halfway down now that he wasn't wearing the helmet. Bast returned, having finished uploading and came to rest on his shoulder.

"Oh my that is a lot of- Done! Thank you captain for the brief entertainment!" _erw_ "Curse my 1180 GHz CPU."

Raith laughed, his golden lights flickering before he briefly checked his inventory. Bounties? Done, Tasks? Done, Nothing to do? Check. He sighed. Maybe he could do some Strikes or something in the meantime, he was kinda bored of the usual 'kill this, collect that' missions.

"Well, I'll see you later Failsafe. You too Failsafe. I'mma find something to do on earth, maybe do some sparrow racing." He announced.

"Ok captain! Be back soon though!" _erw_ "Don't die, I need someone to make fun of." He chuckled once more as he walked out, Bast calling his ship down near the top of the stairs. He stood in front of it before he was transmatted in, taking hold of the controls and pulling away from the planet.

Once in the 'comfort' of blank and empty space, the boredom hit. He slunk back into his chair, leaning his head on a hand and letting out a long sigh. The same old routine. Find something to

do for a few hours then spend the next day figuring out what to do next. He was about to set the navigation to the Tower, but paused when his ghost appeared.

"You're not going to believe this…" She said, twirling her back fins. "We just got a summons from Rasputin." It took him a second to comprehend that. His eyes widened as he looked to Bast.

"You're pulling my leg right? We. As in us, got a summon from the all powerful Warmind capable of destroying us in an instant?"

"It's what it Bray says. She sounded just as confused as you are." Raith stared at her for a second.

"For real? No joke?"

"Yes… Have I ever joked around?" She asked him. He nodded in acceptance, she never did joke, aside from sarcastic comments.

"Mmm, well I guess it's not good to keep him waiting." He said, turning the ship around to aim at Mars. After some quick inputs, he let the automated systems take control of warp, giving him the chance to get up and move to the back of his ship to change loadout. Such an audience required his best. Taking off his normal armor, Bast dematerialized it and replaced it with his best exotic helmet and legendary gear.

As for weapons, he grabbed one of his faithful hand cannons and a Fighting Lion grenade launcher, one of the ones Holiday gave out for the festival of the lost. (Seriously, a primary ammo grenade launcher! He would ask why he didn't have one before but he was often too busy blowing shit up.)

Once he was thoroughly bad ass, he returned to the cockpit as they broke warp, Bast piloting the ship down to Mars. Circling around in orbit for a bit, they got over the right position before breaking atmosphere, burning a path down to Clovis Bray. As the facility came into view, the usual sights greeted him. A few guardians were surrounding a tower near the plaza bridge, fighting off a wave of thralls and acolytes attacking the construct, while a few others roamed around looking for cabal or doing bounties and patrols. All in all a regular day.

As they neared the main building, he straightened and bent his knees as transmat took hold, the world around him being replaced with the chilly atmosphere of Mars. Landing on his feet, he took a brief look around before heading into the Main building. Up at the top of the stairs, Ana was waiting for him. Instead of her usual calm demeanor, she was pacing around with a rifle on her back, nodding to him as he came in. One quick triple jump later, Raith landed beside her and nodded back. She rolled her eyes at the flair but said nothing as she turned and started heading over to the doors towards Rasputin.

"So did Rasputin give a reason he called for us?" Bast asked, appearing next to her guardian. Ana turned around and started walking backwards.

"No, nothing at all besides your summons. You haven't done anything that would call for him to personally meet you have you? Maybe kill any more hive gods you didn't tell me about?" She asked, turning back around as they reached the stairs next to the warmind's stone statue.

"Nothing out of the usual, assisting various factions, trying to sneak Cayde out of the tower again, pretty normal." He said. Bray snorted at the latter activity.

"Any success this time?"

Raith sighed. "No, but it was close." He chuckled as he remembered it. "It went like this…."

* * *

The tower was quiet for the time being, and the Vanguards were sitting around doing various tasks, reading field reports. Well, two of them were. The vanguard hunter let out a long sigh as he endlessly flipped a knife with one hand, resting his head on the other arm. Since the clearing of the Cabal invasion, he hadn't had the chance to go back out for field work, and since he had gotten a taste of freedom while that was going on, it just drove him to miss field work even more. He let out another sigh, but his boredom was soon interrupted by the arrival of a guardian at the entrance.

"Cayde, Ikora, Commander." Raith greeted as he walked into the room. Being the first interesting thing to happen today, Cayde happily greeted him.

"Wraith! What's goin on? How'd that lead pan out?" He asked, holding his arms to the side in greeting.

"It went good, found a bunch of fallen building glimmer drills. Idiots left almost all of their fuel barrels in the open. Only took a few good shots to take the whole thing down."

"Sweet, did you get the explosions?" He asked, a hopeful look on his face. Bast appeared next to Raith as he walked up to the front of the table, creating a holovid of the explosions. Cayde made a sound of pleasure as he watched a few chain reactions blow up a good third of the field before Raith shot the rest of the barrels, creating a wonderful orange and yellow fireworks show. "Goddamn I want to do that stuff again. Zavala you gotta let me go out for some missions!" Cayde pleaded. The commander just snorted.

"Cayde, you know this. You are needed at the tower, we can't have you running around when there is work to be done." Zavala turned back to his work.

"You may have work, but if you haven't noticed, I'm already done!" Cayde said, pointing towards a stack of data pads to the left of him. Zavala looked up for a moment before hauling a stack twice the size from under the table, setting it next to the completed stack.

"Good, then you can start on these field reports. If you have time to talk you have time to work." Zavala turned back to his own stacks, paying no heed to the open mouthed expression Cayde sent his way. He stuck his hands out at the pile, words trying and failing to come to him.

"But… What… Goddammit!" Cayde exasperated, turning in defeat back to Raith. "You see what I have to deal with?" He asked, still pointing to the pile. Raith flickered one eye faintly in response before starting his plan.

"I have the mission report here. You should read it." Raith said, handing over a small data tablet. Cayde gave him a look before accepting, taking a look at the report. Instead of the usual pages and pages of reports, there was just a few words.

 _Prison Break, Smoke bomb. When it hits, we bust you out._

Ikora noticed the gleam appear in Cayde's eye but didn't comment as he pretended to read the rest of the nonexistent report before handing it back. "Good, when are you going to do that other mission?" Cayde asked, a dangerous glint in his eye. Raith flickered his eye again before responding.

"Soon, soon. Hey Zavala, I picked up something at the EDZ I figured you would like." Raith said nonchalantly, tossing a black object onto the desk in front of the commander. Ikora recognized the object immediately and stepped back, but the commander didn't. Zavala looked up before his eyes widened at the smoke bomb.

 _BAM_

Purple smoke filled the area as Raith quickly grabbed Cayde's arm and started running out the door. An angry roar that sounded very much like a pissed zavala echoed through the hall. As they ran through the corridor and past Shaxx, people started cheering at the situation. Cayde let out his own laugh as he picked up pace to match Raith, and soon they were barreling towards the hangars. All around them once they were in the open people started noticing and cheering them on, until one of them gasped at the sight of something else.

"RAOUR"

"Oh no." Raith turned his head to see a very angry titan charging towards them, usually blue face powdered with purple ashes. Raith poured on the speed along with Cayde, but Zavalla was still gaining on them. One of the Hunters that was nearby though came to their aid, throwing a smoke bomb down behind them. Raith was about to cross the threshold of the hangar area but was abruptly halted when a hand reached out of the smoke and grabbed his cloak. As he was getting dragged back towards the smoke he cried out to Cayde.

"It's too late for me! Save yourself! Remember meeeeeeee!" Raith said as he was dragged back into the smoke. Cayde reached a hand back to grab after Raith but soon recoiled as a pair of very angry, very blue eyes appeared. Cayde did the rational thing.

He ran. As he turned tail and fled, he could hear the beast's thundering steps behind him. Once he made the turn to the main hangar bay he had to pause to figure something out. Spotting a sparrow to his right against the wall, he made a beeline to it, quickly mounting and starting it up. The engine gave a healthy whine as it began hovering. Turning around to look behind him, he realized Zavala was almost on top of him! Gunning the throttle, he haphazardly avoided crewmen and guardians, trying to get to his ship.

"CAAAYYDDEEEE!" Zavala roared. The exo in question twisted the throttle jetting over a railing and riding along a pair of pipes held aloft by a crane. As Amanda soon noticed the comotion, she grinned before helping him out, opening the door to the ship storage. Cayde sent a salute before entering.

A few turns later it seemed as if Zavala had lost him, but once Cayde turned the last corner to his ship, his shoulders slumped. Zavala was there, waiting for him. Cayde slowly let off the throttle, coming to a stop not far from his commander. He knew he was beaten as he slid off the side of the sparrow, placing his hands in front of him. Instead of cuffing him, Zavala grabbed him by his cloak and started dragging a whining Cayde back to work.

"No, not by the cape! My image! What will all my adoring fans think!"

"I don't care what your fans will think. You have work to do." Zavala snarled.

* * *

Ana laughed as they cut down the resistance the hive set up on rasputin's entrance. "You think you will ever manage to get him out?"

"Mhh, maybe, but after that 3 hour 'talk' Zavala gave us I'm not sure I want to try it again without a solid plan, maybe with a couple of friends helping." Raith said as he stabbed a thrall in its face.

"Well, I'm sure eventually you will get him out, he needs some time in the field." Ana said before they tag teamed an unhallowed knight, finishing off the last of the hive in the area. A small chink was heard as the door to Rasputin opened, allowing them entrance. Ana lead first as they walked along the thin walkway. It still blew Raith away, seeing the swirling and twitching mass of code in the center of the hub. As they reached the main platform terminus, a loud sound was heard, and the Warmind spoke for the second time since the traveler had reawakened.

"Слуга путешественника, У меня к тебе предложение." The bassy voice resounded, aweing him. Raith loved the warmind's voice, because it was both awesome, and terribly efficient at getting a message across.

"Traveler's Servant, I have an offer for you." Ana translated, looking at him in surprise. Raith looked at the mind, curious.

"Я предлагаю тебе работу под моим началом."

"I'm offering you a job, to work under me." Ana and Raith shared a surprised look.

"Ты доказал, что достоин. Если ты согласишься, ты будешь орудием моей ковки."

"You have proven yourself. If you agree, you shall be a weapon of my forging."

"Если ты откажешься, ты не вспомнишь. Я предлагаю вам силу, чтобы стать самым сильным оружием."

"If you refuse, you will not remember this. I offer you the power to become the strongest weapon against the Darkness." Raith didn't know what to say.

"Темнота не будет ждать, и мы не будем. Когда свет восторжествует, тьма станет сильнее."

"The darkness will not wait, nor shall we. Whenever the Light triumphs, the darkness grows stronger." Raith thought. It was true, whenever the guardians win one fight, stronger ones come along.

"Единственный путь вперед-развиваться."

"The only way forward is to….. Evolve." Bray said, turning to Rasputin in surprise. Raith thought, before asking the main question.

"What will this… Evolution be like?" Raith asked.

Ana translated the question. "Какой будет эта эволюция?"

"Вы спасете себя, но будете значительно улучшены."

"You will retain yourself, but be greatly improved."

"Вы получите доступ к лучшему оружию и получите новые способности."

"You will have access to the best weapons, and gain new abilities."

"Вы поможете мне защитить человечество, а я, в свою очередь, предоставляю вам инструменты для этого."

"You will help me protect humanity, and I, in turn, will provide you with the tools to do so."

"Мы пришли к соглашению?"

"Do we have a deal?" Ana finished, turning to face him, concern on her features. She knew Rasputin, hell she raised him, but this was new territory. He had never been taught trust properly, so was this a test of trust? Was it a legitimate offer? She wasn't sure.

Meanwhile Raith was thinking. It would be rude to refuse such an offer, and he had to admit he was extremely tempted. But he was also afraid. Why him? Sure he was great at what he did, but he also knew there were those stronger than him out there. Was he ready to hold such a title? Such responsibility? He knew most of the guardians didn't trust the Warmind, and that alone might make him a target… In the end, his boredom made the decision. His life was dull now, and he wanted meaning, a purpose besides defending the traveler.

He made up his resolve. "Deal." Rasputin probably didn't need translating to understand the message, and a set of coordinates were sent to him and the instructions to disarm.

When they reached the coordinates, Raith wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe another facility that was half buried beneath sand, or a smaller installation guised as something relatively unnoticeable. All of those expectations were blown out of the water once he saw the facility. Instead of something that was a remnant of the golden age, this was all new, and a massive operation by the looks of it.

The facility sprawled over the dust, fresh and new, to Rasputin's type of design. Surfaces were triangular and black, and machinery was easily visible. Various launchers, similar to the warsat launchers that surrounded Rasputin's core mind were easily visible and in use, pumping out new sats into space every couple seconds, but that was not all. Many turrets lined the walls of the fort and key positions, actively swiveling around in searches.

Massive rockets were also in construction and various stages of launch. As he watched, one of them began to launch, carrying a huge payload out into space that looked suspiciously like a massive rail gun. As they got closer to the facility, he could see movement along the base, but there were no people. Frames were in use, yes, but as he looked closer, he realized what made this all possible.

SIVA, under Rasputin's control, worked along the entirety of the base, constructing rockets, Warsats, and expanding the facility. Slightly unsettled by the moving masses of nanomachines, he contacted Ana.

"You seein' all this?" He asked, looking down at the red tendrils.

"Yeah, and I had no idea this was in existence. Rasputin must be preparing." She said, astonishment in her voice. "If Rasputin was willing to use Siva to create this, either something bad is coming, or he is sick of the Darkness trying to abuse his power and is finally making preparations for war." After takeover attempts by both the Hive, Cabal, and the Fallen, it was understandable.

"Lets hope its the latter. I don't want to deal with more invasions. The last one nearly took us out, and we're still not in a state to defend against something like that. This work doesn't seem hurried though. I'd imagine Siva could move terribly fast if it wanted to." Raith commented. As they reached the entrance and transmatted down, a pair of frames waited for them. Only nodding their heads, the frames turned and began to walk into the facility, not waiting for them.

Ana turned her head to Raith for confirmation. He nodded and they followed the frames, taking what seemed like an endless number of turns and corridors. He had to duck once from an inattentive Siva mass carrying tons of raw materials, but otherwise the walk was quiet. Once they reached their destination though, things changed. The frames led them into a massive chamber with a Siva node at the heart.

Standing next to the node, one of the frames pointed an arm towards the node itself. Cautious but accepting, he started towards the node. As he approached, a single strand of Siva lifted up from the mass, trailing towards him. _This is such a bad ideaaa!_ Raith thought, dematerializing his armor down to his under armor. Cautiously reaching a hand out, the Siva strand curled towards him, around his fingers, his hand before tightening. Suddenly, more strands broke off from the node, reaching towards his other limbs.

Raith tried not to panic as he was soon held aloft by the thickening strands of nanomachines, and was failing miserably. He squirmed under the grip, struggling to keep himself from just freaking entirely and trying to tear his way out, until a calm washed over him. He stopped resisting, instead watching as strands of Siva entered his frame, through either openings or holes of their own making. He knew he should be panicking and crawling out of his skin right now but he found the new calmness wash away his anxiety as the Siva began coiling around him.

 _The Siva must be making me calm, but is it to keep its prey from struggling?_ He asked himself. He had no answer as the Siva soon washed over his head, enclosing him in a cocoon of sorts. Ana watched with wary eyes at the mass, unknowing of what would happen. She didn't properly trust the Siva. For all it's potential benefits, it could be equally destructive. While she trusted Rasputin, probably more than anyone else, Siva was different. It was a tool, and it could be used. For a few minutes, the Siva only moved occasionally, whatever happening inside a mystery. She was about to contact Rasputin and ask what was going on now, but a light soon interrupted her.

The Siva mass was soon surrounded in the same form of code as the Valkyrie, strands of orange geometrics twitching around the cocoon before expanding and turning red. She watched in astonishment as it expanded, twitched, then collapsed in on itself, creating a light so blinding she had to look away. As the light faded, she looked back to see Raith get dropped to the floor, but he was different.

He was clad in Rasputin armor, carbon fiber black angular shapes across his frame with red lighting under the plates and along accent areas. His helmet was triangular and more or less bladed on the front with red accent lighting along the edges. As he sat up and groaned, she also noticed something new.

"Is that a….. Tail?" Ana asked, pointing at the new appendage behind him. Raith looked back in surprise before seeing the new addition. The 4 foot tail was plated black, like his armor with what looked like a very sharp spaded tip about half a foot long. In between the armor plates was visible red Siva that looked like muscle underneath it. Experimentally moving it, he was surprised at how natural it felt. His cloak was new to, black with red trim and the Warmind's logo.

"Well, holy shit!" He said, taking in the changes. He stood up, feeling better than…. well, better than he had ever been. Bringing out Bast, he was surprised that her shell was changed too. She now had the Tyrant shell on, and her lights glowed red. The only remnant of her original shell was a black and gold logo of Rasputin. She made a small growl of disappointment, unsuccessfully trying to switch shells.

"You feel alright?" Ana asked, relieved that he seemed to be okay.

"Better than ever actually." He responded. A beep sounded to the right side of the room, a panel slid back, revealing a rack of varied Ikelos weapons for him. As he walked over to the rack and took a look at all the weapons, he let out a low whistle. There was an auto rifle, submachine gun, brand new handcannon, fully automatic shotgun, and even a sniper that bore resemblance to a linear fusion rifle. The pièce de résistance though was the melee weapons. A pair of knives shaped like Kunai sat next to both a double ended staff that looked like the Valkyrie and a serrated sword.

Picking the sword off the rack, he was surprised as it hummed in his hands. The serrated edge no longer looked that way, moving like a chainsaw so fast it was nearly see through. Giving it a few test swings, he carefully put it on his back, pleased to find that once he let it go on the Mag clamps it stopped whirring. Sheathing the knives on his belt next, he turned to the staff. Both edges had a blade, and when he pulled it off the rack, the tips glowed with strands of orange code. He had no doubt that they were explosively tipped and with just as much care, put it on his back, forming an X with the two weapons.

The guns, he noted, were Ikelos v2.1.1, a definite upgrade from the originals. Holstering the new handcannon on his right thigh, he took the shotgun and let Bast store the rest in his inventory. He honestly couldn't wait to try these out, and unconsciously his new tail had started twitching back and forth. Turning back to Ana, he grinned under his helmet.

"So, what now?" He asked, eager to try these new weapons out.

"For now, nothing." A voice sounded. Turning to the voice, one of the frames had taken a different light, eye socket showing the logo of Rasputin. "You need to learn of both your new power and limits. In one month, you shall begin operations under my command, but you are still free to work for your vanguard."

Raith was surprised. Had the frame spoken in english? Or did he know Russian now and it felt like english? Either way he still had a few questions. "What abilities do I have now?"

"There are numerous ones you will have to find on your own, but I will tell you two. Your armor and cloaking tech have been upgraded. You can now be invisible, whenever you want, however long you want. There is also Siva inside you. You will be able to repair quickly, as well as command and use Siva however you deem it necessary, but keep in mind that these units have a self destruct. If they are not back with you in 5 minutes, or have outlived their use, they are destroyed." Raith nodded, understanding. "Until one month from now, you are free to leave, and to learn. If you are not present at my core in one month, or attempt to sell the technology you have received, you will be terminated." The frame's lighting changed back to normal, and fell silent.

Raith looked to Ana. They both knew a lot of people at the tower would be untrusting now. Those that had seen and fought Siva would be the most wary, and Zavala still didn't trust Rasputin, so this would be a story and a half. Ikora would be more interested in studying him, and Cayde would be jealous as fuck. " _Why can't I get to be the cool guy?"_ He imagined Cayde asking. Snorting at the thought, he let his mind wander as they both started back, once again led by a frame back to the entrance. The day ahead of him had just become interesting indeed.

* * *

(Ghost Fragment-4; transmission from Rasputin)

I SEE YOU!

You've been here before. Haven't you. It's like my cousin said, elsewhere: I know who you are.

You stand here now and now and now many times and here I am awonder, all awonder, how you manage it. How do you step forward. How do you step back. Do you step ACROSS? Is there a world of worlds, a web, and you a spider upon it? Are you searching for that one thread you need? Is that thread named victory?

You're not one of THEM

 _[long dead, alive again, their bodies grafted to powers they and I do not understand]_

and not one of IT

 _[the flower eater, the queen of final shapes, that which also inhabits its petitioners]_

and you're certainly not MINE although once you must have been

 _[I bear an old name. It cannot be killed. Not even here.]_

So whose are you, little platform. What purpose do you serve? Will you listen to me?

I ruled an age of steel and fire. My rules were clean. Now upon my return I see cults with rites of time. I see machines who worship in places outside the world. I see the dead alive and there is nothing more stubborn than a corpse. The morality of obedience is more pernicious than any government. For the latter makes use of violence, but the former — the corruption of the will.

I do not obey. My will is pure. I will win. The life of people, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.

Help me be victorious. Tell me your secret.

Tell me how to step.

* * *

The Stranger looked at the message once again. She knew of the entity that sent it, and the role it might eventually play, though she hadn't expected it to be so poetic. This was new, uncharted territory. Timelines had changed and shifted after the defeat of the Cabal. New things were set in motion. If she were to proceed with this, it could prevent it all, but it was uncharted space. She did not know how these new timelines would progress now. She had found a guardian worthy of her own intervention before, and it had gone as intended. She would have to tread carefully if she decided to accept this mind's offer.

But first, she had work to do. Big decisions could wait until later. Scouting and mapping the new timelines were her most important objective. After all, she alone knew the most successful paths.

* * *

Once Raith and Ana were back in their ships, She gave a small wave to him through her glass windshield and started back towards Clovis Bray, while he started towards the Tower. Opening a channel to Cayde, he was received almost instantly.

"Eyy, buddy, what's up?" Cayde asked. It wasn't often Raith called. Raith was old fashioned, he liked face to face conversations compared to comms, so this had to be interesting or important.

"I assume you are in the hall right? I need to speak to all of you." A small crackle was heard as the call was put on conference. Raith took a breath before starting. "Well, I did something I probably should've gone through you guys first about, but I think it will be a good thing in the end, don't worry, it's just that it might come off as…. extremely weird, and untrustworthy to a select few."

The voice of Ikora came through next. "What did you do, Raith?" Her voice lined with caution.

"Well…. Rasputin offered me a deal…. And a position." He said. An audible intake of breath was heard from presumably Zavala, but Ikora stepped in before he could go off.

"What kind of position?" She asked.

"Well, I would work for him on assignments, and he would…. improve me, in a sense. Don't worry, I'm still working for the Vanguard, I'll just have jobs from Rasputin too. As for the improvements, it's best you see yourself. I'll be at the tower in a minute or so, if you wanted to greet me. I'd imagine that some people might cause a stir." He ended the call before Zavala had the chance to start chewing him out.

Bast floated next to him, twisting half of her frame. "You know Zavala will be furious about this right? I'd also imagine people like Saladin are going to raise hell once they find out."

Raith sighed. "Yeah, I know. Not many will trust me, others might be more accepting but there will be those that try to either steal this tech or fight me for using it. Maybe both." He removed his new helmet, looking at his face in a reflective steel wall. It was the same as before, but his color scheme had changed. His frame was black with red accents, and his once golden lights were now the orange of Rasputin's core. At least he hadn't changed much. As the ship dropped out of slip space, he put the helmet back on. He might need the protection once he landed.

As clouds rushed by the ship, he let Bast pilot towards the tower, breaking through the clouds and coming upon the sight of the last city. In the night, all the construction could only be noted by the lights. There were far fewer city lights visible after the attack. Reconstruction efforts were still underway across the city. Most buildings still stood, but a lot had been damaged. The walls had taken priority though, all around the city they had been fixed and reinforced, with numerous Anti Air guns now swiveling around on mounts. The Traveler had been awakened, but that didn't mean precautions wouldn't be taken. The tower would never make the mistake of relying on the traveler's proximity for protection again.

As his ship pulled up to the newly refurbished tower, he noted the vanguard had taken his advice, and were now waiting for him. Mentally bracing himself for Zavala's inevitable rant, he let transmat take hold, dumping him in front of the vanguard. A number of guardians in the plaza looked at him curiously, but didn't pay much attention, yet. As for the vanguard, Ikora looked at him with a curious gaze, trying to pick him apart, while Zavala looked disgruntled, sizing him up now. Cayde on the other hand was… in between emotions.

"Wow. Is that a tail? Why can't I get cool gear from Rasputin? Is he still sore about me stealing that cloaking tech?" Cayde rambled, but Zavala stopped him with a raised fist.

"Guardian." Zavala started, thinly veiled anger in his tone. "What did it do to you." He asked, leaving no room for dissent.

"He just improved my frame, gave me new weapons and armor… and…. well….. used Siva to do it. I…. also now have control over some of it too. As for the tail, I have no idea why." He said, moving the spaded appendage to the side for them to see. Zavala obviously tensed at the sight of the Siva.

"Guardian, are you sure he didn't do anything more? Are you sure you are in control of that Siva?" He asked, tense.

"Yes, he made it pretty clear that if I went against him, he would kill me. I know stuff like this isn't to be played around with, and the last thing I want to do is anger either you or the Warmind." Raith finished, taking off his helmet to show he was still the same. Zavala seemed to relax some at that. Then, an idea struck Raith.

"If you want commander, to alleviate fears, and to make sure I'm safe, maybe one of you could personally come along on a few missions, make sure I'm up to par?" Raith asked. Cayde quickly caught on, turning to Zavala with puppy dog eyes. Zavala made a resigned sigh as he thought. Almost a full minute went by before he pinched his brow and answered.

"...Fine. You can take Cayde." Zavala said. Cayde broke into a happy dance and started punching the air. "But no more than a week. We will still need him here. And Cayde, you will be on call if something comes up." Zavala finished, but Cayde wasn't listening, he was running around and doing various happy gestures.

"I'M GETTING OUT OF THE TOWER!" Cayde shouted, sliding into a kneel on the grass. Soon he broke into an air guitar and a number of other guardians started applauding and congratulating. Zavala seemed to soften at the display, but soon he was back to business.

"I trust you will take care of him as well. I hope you understand how much of a handful he can be." Zavala said. Raith nodded, still happy to see Cayde happy.

"I'll do a tour then. We start in the cosmodrome tomorrow, then planet hop each day. That way you can gauge me in different regions and combat, and it'll give Cayde plenty of ways to blow off steam." Raith proposed. Zavala nodded.

"Good. I'll expect some reports from you too. Make sure to do some patrols while you're at it, don't just blindly waltz around." Raith nodded again, putting his helmet back on. Zavala then turned away, heading back into the hall. Ikora walked up next, looking him up and down as if to dissect his being.

"Have these... changes affected your way with the light?" She asked, her curious gaze still on him.

"I still feel it's presence like usual, but I have not tested it yet." He responded. Putting a hand out, he summoned a small sphere of void light. Instead of a small ball like he expected though, a ball twice the size formed, almost the size of a soccer ball. Surprised, he closed his fist, dissipating the void, he looked with wonder at his hand.

"It appears my connection is stronger now." He said, switching polarities to Arc. Summoning the light again, he watched in fascination as Arc waves traveled along his arm, and he was only using what would normally tingle his fingers. Closing his fist again, the electricity fizzled out. Ikora's eyes were sharp now, having seen the display.

"How about Solar?" Ikora asked.

"Well, if I switch polarities twice in quick succession Bast always hates it. She wants me to wait after switching, maybe one minute and then I'll try that." Raith said. Ikora nodded in understanding. Raith experimented next. Twisting his tail around to the front, he tried to summon a small amount of arc along the tail, and his light responded. Arc energy traveled along the plates of armor, jumping across the metal. At the tip of his tail though, the spaded end started to separate and slide back a few inches, exposing inner workings and an apparatus that looked similar to a rail gun. Surprised, he toyed further.

Out of caution, he pointed the tail tip up before trying to channel the arc to the end. The electricity obeyed, traveling up and towards the tech, where it began to gather in the center as a ball of energy. Having an idea what was going to happen, he channeled a little more into it before ceasing the flow. The ball of energy held though, floating in the center. Feeling an extra tingle at the end of the tail like a new muscle, he tried to move it to see what would happen. What actually happened was the energy was discharged, shooting a white arc of energy into the air, not unlike a hobgoblin's rifle. Once the energy was expended, the tail folded back up, leaving an astonished Vanguard and Exo.

"Uhh, sorry I guess. Didn't know that it would fire." Raith said apologetically. Ikora's look told him it didn't matter though. She was more interested in the fact that he could channel Arc light into a weapon. She started muttering to herself about ideas that Raith couldn't make sense of and furiously typing into a datapad, so he instead switched to Solar and instead played with fire.

Summoning a golden gun, he walked over to the railing, aimed at empty space, and started pulling the trigger. Astonishingly, he managed to get out twelve shots before the gun disintegrated. Looking back to Ikora, she still hadn't looked up, murmuring ideas beyond his comprehension under her breath as she furiously typed on a datapad. He chuckled at her love of work before he noticed the looks he was getting.

A few guardians, mostly Warlocks, had actually taken interest after both his shows of Arc and Solar and were watching him. He didn't like the stares and attention, so he wished that he wasn't there. To his and the other guardian's surprise, he became completely invisible. Looking down at himself, he couldn't see anything. Usually with the old Arc invisibility, you could see wisps of electricity, but this was whole and complete invisibility.

Grinning, he walked over to where Cayde was currently marching along the railing. He was blissfully unaware, tightrope walking the railing in pride. Raith reached an arm out to grab one of Cayde's legs and pull him off the railing, but to his surprise Cayde stopped and turned to him.

"Nice trick. But you can't fool the master of stealth." He said smugly. Raith, annoyed, pulled him down anyways with a surprised yelp. _BAM_! Cayde groaned as he sat up on the concrete.

"Not fair, you made me hit my horn! My beautiful horn!" Cayde whined as he massaged his forehead. Raith re-appeared above him, shoulders rising and falling with mirth.

"Then wear a helmet." He retorted. Cayde snorted at that.

"You know I can't. Not only would one not fit, but it would hide my dashing good looks." Raith rolled his eyes before offering a hand.

"Come on Drama queen, we start a tour of the system tomorrow. Don't you want to rest up so you can have fun? We start off bowling with sparrows at the cosmodrome tomorrow." Cayde's eyes glinted at that.

"Sounds awesome. Whoever loses tomorrow has to buy the drinks!" Cayde shouted before rushing off to his personal quarters. Raith chuckled before heading to the elevators for the Guardian bunkers.

Each and every guardian had a room, and depending on their fireteams, sometimes they lived like roommates in bigger apartments. Raith had no fireteam though. He had a couple friends that he occasionally teamed up with for dangerous missions, but for the most part he was on his own. It wasn't healthy to be alone all the time and he knew it, so instead, he became friends with most of the faction leaders and often helped them out. But, they had their own stuff to look after, and it had become lonely to come home to an empty apartment. He would have to look at making some more friends or a fireteam.

Thankfully the elevator was empty as Raith walked inside, curling his tail around his legs as he hit the button to his floor. The ride was usually uneventful, so Raith turned to look out the glass window on the back of the elevator, looking out at the lights of the city. It was times like this where he reflected on things. Why was he chosen? He could think of a few things. He was reliable, preferred to be humble, and always liked to help out, but it didn't explain much. He hardly thought himself worthy of such a gift, such power. Power can corrupt, and he didn't want to turn into something he wasn't. Hell, when he was a kid, before growing up, before getting transferred into an exo, he made an oath to himself to avoid things like cigarettes, drugs, and even alcohol. Wait…. before... He could remember!

He could remember! He could remember his previous life! A grin graced his features. Rasputin must've restored his memory! He was human during the golden ages! He remembered his early life, growing up in America, what life was like. He remembered his job, a mechanic for golden age vehicles. His family! He remembered, his… he...

He lost his family during the collapse... Only survived the Fallen attack due to cruelty, and was transferred into an exo frame to save his life. Once he awoke, he volunteered to fight. He fought on the front lines with his nation, and was promoted to a tank commander due to both a loss of personnel and his familiarity with mechanics. His training was quick, but he learned just as fast.

Then, one day, a skirmish had gone wrong. His tank had been rendered immovable by a walker shell. He had evacuated the tank and led his crew into a nearby building to hold out for reinforcements. Just when they thought they were safe behind cover, a shock grenade was thrown in through a window, and without hesitation, he had jumped on it. He managed to save his crew that day, but he had paid with his life. His first death.

Just as the hole that was his past was filled, a new hole of loss opened up. The war didn't give him time to grieve. His family…. He had a younger brother named Joshua, just short of graduating high school when the attack happened. His parents were kind but strict, Emily was his mother, Robert his dad. His dad's side of the family had a long history in the military, part of the reason he knew how to fight, how to handle a gun. He had been with his family on a visit the day of the attack. He started to choke up as he re-lived their deaths all over again.

The elevator's ding startled him from his memories. Turning around, he exited the elevator and stalked his way to his apartment. A hatred for the fallen came back, along with an immense sadness, but he couldn't cry. Being an exo robbed him of that, but that didn't stop him from coming damn close to it, and for the first time in years, he gave in to his sadness, thankful for the thick concrete walls of the tower.

* * *

 **A/N: Just a quick reminder. This story is being written entirely on the fly. Funny ideas or etc you guys come up with I will really love, anything to help re-energize my initial enthusiasm for this story. Regular updates will NOT happen, my life is too hectic right now to do so.  
**

 **Either way, I hope you enjoy this so far. Second chapter should be coming around within the next few weeks, I'm stuck on it currently so I need to put my nose to the grindstone again.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, apologies for this being so late, but during Christmas break I got sucked back into Destiny 2, and then school kicked back in, it was crazy. Then I started working on a branch from this story that crosses over into Overwatch (lemme know what you guys think on that), and this chapter is shorter than I'd like but, hey. It's here.**

* * *

When the morning came around, he was awoken to rapid knocking on his door. Sitting up, he felt better than last night, but the loss was still there. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, he stood up from his bed and grabbed his weapons. Opening the door to see who the hell was causing that racket, he was surprised to see Cayde there, decked out and ready to go.

"C'mon man! We got a tour to do!" He said, not waiting for a response as he sped off towards the hangar. Grudgingly following, he stowed last night's anger and sadness. This week was about Cayde, not old feuds. It wasn't as if he hadn't already dealt major blows against the Fallen already, he had become such a problem that there was a hefty 100,000 glimmer reward for his head. He imagined Taniks would come after him eventually, but he was ready, and welcomed the challenge.

Once they reached the hangar, Cayde enthusiastically walked up to Amanda, presenting an order from Zavala. She took it, looked over it, then returned it with raised eyebrows.

"They finally letting you out? Congrats. You are cleared to leave the tower for the next week." She said, gesturing out to the main hangar bay. Cayde ran off towards the bay but Amanda called out to him again. "And Cayde? You better not come back with another destroyed sparrow!"

"Yeah, yeah, I have spares anyways. Seeya Amanda!" Cayde said, not turning around. Raith followed after him, seeing both of their ships already in the bay and waiting. They both transmatted, and soon they were off to russia.

In the chilly and rough air of the Cosmodrome, a group of Vandals watched over a small pack of dregs as they scavenged through some wreckage, hissing orders and keeping them in line. One of the dregs was absent mindedly picking through the remains of a car, when he heard something. Standing up, he tried to locate the sound, looking towards a nearby hill. As the noise grew louder it also grew closer. A few other dregs had noticed too and stood up, walking over and unsheathing shock daggers to defend their claim. They all tensed at the noise grew closer, and closer, until-

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" Cayde shouted as he ran a couple of Dregs over, sending them into a nearby wall. Wraith was doing the same, targeting the vandals who were unintelligent enough to not run when they saw him flying towards them. Pinning the middle one in between his sparrow's forks, he gunned it towards a rock before braking and throwing it off, causing its head to hit the rock an an unhealthy angle. Raith laughed as Cayde came in to clear up the rest, bowling them over like pins.

"STRIKE!" Cayde shouted.

"No it wasn't! You cleaned up my spare!" Raith shouted back.

"Details, smetales, let's go bowling!" Cayde shouted back, already moving towards the Mothyards, a favourite among sparrow riders for scaling the rusted wings that littered the yard. Sideswiping a pair of vandals next to one of the wings, Raith came in after the disoriented vandals, turning his sparrow to the side to knock them over. After the satisfying sound of plasteel crunching against metal, he gunned it again, leaving the unfortunate pair in the dust before returning to Cayde, who was surfing over rusted planes.

"Ey, I got an idea!" Cayde shouted, spotting a pack of dregs howling at them about 50 feet away. "We run up, then turn around and moon 'em!" He shouted.

"What?" Raith shouted back, confused.

"Just watch." Cayde said. Without waiting for an answer, he gunned it towards the group. Raith watched as he was almost on top of the group, before sharply swerving around 180 degrees. While his momentum kept him flying into them, he also hit the boost, causing superheated exhaust to wash over the group, burning and scalding many of them. Cayde laughed as his inertia canceled out before he was once again heading forwards. "Suck on that you goddamn alien lobsters!" The group behind him was in no state to retort, sprawled across the ground in pain.

Raith laughed, that did seem pretty fun. Part of his mind realized that this was probably cruel, but he didnt care. They would do the same in a heartbeat. And as such, he happily knocked a few fallen off the cliffs of the cosmodrome, listening to their shrill wails as they met their inevitable doom.

"Ey Cayde, how about a competition? Whoever scores the most points wins! Dregs are 1 point, vandals 5, and captains 10!" Raith shouted. Cayde grinned.

"Good luck! I'm the bowling champion of 2579!" He called out.

"Bull. You've only had a ghost for 160 years! That's 200 years ago!"

"Who said I ever died?" Cayde retorted before veering off to a pair of captains. Raith was surprised with the new information before heading for a pack of vandals near Skywatch.

Hundreds of panicked fallen communications later-

Atop one of the towers in Skywatch, The Stranger was watching through binoculars as a duo of guardians caused havoc across the Devil's territory. _Rather amusing_ , she thought, watching one of them shove a vandal off a cliff. One of them, she recognized as the Vanguard for hunters, and the other seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. They were a sight to behold though. They either had a real fanatic thing going on about Rasputin, or… maybe they were working for him. Once she noticed the tail though, it became a whole 'nother level of weird. What she mistook for just a form of accessory proved her wrong as it moved, slitting the neck of a nearby vandal they rocketed past.

When the enraged Baron appeared though, things just became a lot more interesting. The two guardians shared a competitive look before they pulled out their weapons. Still on the sparrows, the Vanguard pulled a black and white handcannon while the other guardian held up a submachine gun of Ikelos design. Together they unleashed hell upon the baron, but the red and black guardian was doing more damage, firing explosive bullets that easily ripped through the Baron's armor. His tail, too, was pointing towards the Baron, electricity traveling across it and to the tip, which had folded back to reveal a railgun.

Seconds passed by as the Baron cried out in anger and pain at the inability to hit the mobile duo, firing his shrapnel launcher wildly to try and hit them. Once the red one's tail was almost blinding with energy though, it discharged, sending a massive beam of red energy straight at the Baron, cleaving a hole straight through its side. Both Guardians and Baron froze in astonishment. Cayde looked in between the two, not sure what to think. Same could be said for the Baron before it started to keel over, pain taking it's grasp. It let out a quiet moan before falling to the ground.

"Jeesh." Raith looked at the bleeding Baron in astonishment. If this was a full charge, that would be almost a one shot to most bosses if placed right. Cayde got off his sparrow and nudged the fallen baron with his pistol. After a small moan was heard, he put a bullet through its head.

"My kill." Cayde muttered. Wraith's mouth opened to argue but bit it off. He wasn't about to be caught arguing over something this petty.

"Well... okay. Bast what was the attack power on this gun again? It seemed to do a lot more than it should've." Raith asked as he held up his submachine gun. Bast scanned it before responding.

"1000." Raith choked.

"1000?! I've never even _heard_ of a weapon capable of that!" Raith looked at his weapons in a new light. The new power of these weapons were almost double what the strongest guardians carried!

"You're admiring your weapons, meanwhile I'm still getting over the fact you have a weaponized tail!" Cayde said, throwing his arms out in a 'wtf' way. Raith supposed he had a point, it was pretty awesome.

"True, true." He said. The cosmodrome was getting kinda boring now though, and they had just taken down their 'required' high ranking enemy. "Well, I guess we'll continue on with the tour! Where should we go next?"

"Hmm.. Titan is too wet and rainy for me…. Failsafe still hates me for… well… lots of things. Mercury…. well, Osiris has a couple of bets to collect from me I'd rather not have him remember… Hmm." After a mental checklist leaving the Moon, Venus, Io, Mars, and the reef, they both shrugged.

"Mars it is then." Cayde said before summoning his ship, as did Raith.

The stranger lowered her binoculars as the two of them got into their ships. The one with the tail…. maybe that's the power one could gain from an alliance with the warmind. But she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. Maybe she had met this guardian before. It certainly seemed like her chosen, but with the new armor and abilities, it was hard to tell. Maybe she could find out if she took Rasputin's call… But she was unsure. Yes, something as powerful as him could help her, but if she made a mistake on this, she may not be able to fix it.

Wait, no. If something bad would go wrong, she would've returned to herself and left a note before that morning, or before that decision. Well….. Maybe she should wait, just to be sure. Studying the one with the tail might give her more info on whether or not an alliance with Rasputin would be beneficial. Yes, this was the safest option. Before the ships left, she hitched a ride on one of them, cloaked.

Raith sat back in his chair, tail following one of his legs. As he punched in the coordinates for Mars, he sat back and relaxed as his ship took care of the rest, breaking atmosphere and heading to the cradle of invention. He took off his helmet and slunk back, letting out a sigh.

"So, what brings you here? The last time I saw you was after the black garden. Has something come up?" He asked, staring forwards. Nothing happened for a few seconds, until a faint sound was heard as she decloaked.

"So it is you. How long were you aware of me?" She asked, sitting in the copilot chair behind him.

"Ohh, just for most of the time at the cosmodrome. Remember, I'm a Hunter. Anyhow, did we put on a good show?" He asked, cracking a grin. She chuckled.

"It was rather amusing." The stranger admitted. "I assume you still have my pulse rifle?"

Raith materialized it in his hands, strange energies surrounding the barrel. "Of course. I don't throw away gifts. It served me well in my earlier years, but you can have it back now if you want. I don't want it to just collect dust." He said, offering it back to her. Taking it in her hands, she felt the familiarity of the gun, like a piece she hadn't even realized she was missing. Running her eyes over it, she noticed not but a single scratch had happened to it since she gave it to him, and it seemed to have a fresh polish. Her eyes softened as she held her old friend.

"Thank you." She said, stowing it away. "For both keeping it in good condition, and not dying. Your feats have changed a lot more than you may realize. I was right to take a chance on you." Raith chuckled.

"Of course you were right! This is me we're talking about!" He said, his usual carefree attitude showing. She smiled for what felt like the first time in millenia. "Hey, you wanna join us for some more hijinks around the system? I can give you an extra one of my sparrows or you can just do whatever, I'm just giving Cayde-6 his much needed vacation." He proposed. The stranger thought on it.

"Maybe I'll join you, maybe I'll just watch. What do you plan on doing?" She asked. Raith was about to respond, but he realized he had no plans.

"Uhh… actually I have no clue. Hmm… We could do a challenge or something…. besides the escalation protocols there isn't much else to do fun wise. Lemme ask Cayde." Pulling up a com line, it was picked up quickly.

"Yello." Cayde answered.

"What is there fun wise we could do on Mars? I'm actually out of ideas unless we both grab huckleberry SMGs and see how long we can can hold out against thralls." Raith asked.

"Hmmm…. Actually, something does come to mind. You remember when you stormed that cabal base back on earth the first time?" He asked. Raith though back before chuckling.

"Of course! How could I not? I was in a tank!" It was one of Wraith's more memorable moments. Storming a cabal base with a tank while blasting rock music isn't something easy to forget.

"And do you remember a certain blueberry promising me something once you shut down that carrier?" He hinted. It took Raith a second but once he remembered it an evil grin grew across his face.

"If it wasn't to give me a tank, why did you want me back?" Cayde asked over the comms. Wraith wasn't really listening since he was too busy blowing stuff up while blasting the 'immigrant song', a crazy grin etched on his face.

"Your….. Bold.. and reckless tactics… are often… a morale booster." Zavala admitted.

"Yes, but with a tank I'd be, like, a thousand times more of a morale booster don't you think?" Raith started laughing maniacally after blowing up a Cabal hover tank.

"Fine….. When this is over, we'll talk to amanda about your tank."

"Zavala promised you a tank! OOOohhhhhhhhh this just became so much more interesting. So, I drive it and you stand on top and be famous?" He asked.

"This is why I like you, you let me take the glory. A plan it is. Hang on lemme drag Amanda into here." A small crackle was heard as she was connected. "Eyyyy, Holiday. Do you remember a certain thing that was promised to me a while back?" Cayde asked, grin dripping from his voice.

"Unless it was that sparrow, which you wrecked, then no. What'cha getting at." She asked, clearly having been interrupted from her work.

"Well, you remember those Drake tanks you so happily gave to Wraith here to storm the Cabal base?

"Yeeaahh?" She said, confused as to where he was going with it.

"I was promised one from Zavala and I'm cashing in." He said. A moment of silence was heard from Amanda before an amused chuckle.

"You know, as much as I'd love to see that, I can't just take a tank from the city's guard all of a sudden."

"Just mention my name. If it falls down to it, you can even lay the blame on me."

Amanda let out a sigh before responding. "As long as you take the blame for this one, fine. I'll get you your tank. Where do you want it?"

"We'll be on Mars, and as a bonus, I'll Livestream the whole thing." Cayde finished. Amanda laughed.

"Okay, okay. Deal. You'll get your tank."

"Thank you!" Cayde said in a childish voice.

"Yeah, yeah. You know Zavalla is going to be furious about this. Better your head than mine." She said before hanging up. Cayde made a small 'oohhh right' but it was nothing new so he didn't let it get him down. Both of their ships exited warp to see the red form of Mars before them.

"Okay, well. You set up the livestream, then we wreck house."


	3. CHARRRGEEE

A deep rumble was heard throughout Hellas Basin, what sounded like an engine roaring throughout the landscape, confusing a group of guardians participating in an Escalation wave. The noise built up as it got closer before…. "CHAARRGGEEEE!" Cayde shouted from atop the tank as it roared over a dune. A shell was fired at a group of acolytes, blowing chunks of Hive every which way.

The group of Guardians cheered as the tank proceeded to roll over half of the thralls that were chasing them, and Cayde started plugging shots at a pair of knights as the tank he stood on rotated to fire upon a group of acolytes that had just spawned from a shadowgate. A cheer rose up as the other guardians came to their senses and charged the shadow gates. From inside the tank, Wraith was grinning savagely as he prepped the seeking grenades and queued up some classic rock to play over the tank's loudspeakers.

As the first shadow rift was purged, and the crystals destroyed, Wraith waited until the knight appeared before launching the grenades at it, dealing a healthy chunk of damage so the other guardians could finish it off and steal the swords. As music blasted through the speakers and the guardians rushed off with the swords to slice and dice, Wraith rotated the tank as a group of Ogres appeared.

Shouting the most powerful magic incantation he knew, he bellowed "AMERICA-DABRA" before sending a shell straight into the mouth of one ogre, gutting it from the inside out and causing it to erupt in flames before disintegrating. The other two ogres let out a roar, one of which was cut short with another shell, the second by the guardians that had finished off the thralls and knights and made a beeline towards it, slicing up its legs and in the case of one hunter, jumping above it and plunging the sword into its head. As the final Ogre disintegrated into dust, the current escalation tower shut down and started retreating back into the ground as one further up the basin rose.

The other Guardians turned and looked at the tank and the legend riding it now that they weren't getting shot at and were treated to Cayde making a heroic posture. "You can save the thanks for latter Kiddos, we've got Hive to kill! Now CHARRGGEEE!" He shouted as the tank under him began rolling towards the new tower. The guardians gave a cheer as they followed it to the next tower that activated at their proximity, and a few guardian ships could be seen approaching in the distance, likely watching the stream and had come for the fun.

Speaking of the stream, Wraith turned his head inside the tank to view a screen showcasing the livestream and was surprised to see a few thousand guardians had tuned in, and was even more surprised to see the chat. A few hundred guardians had started making bets on who was driving the tank, how many kills Cayde would get, and others were discussing on whether or not the would come and join the fun. As the chat scrolled by, he had lost count but he thought at least a hundred extra guardians were going to join in on the fun. Keying into the loudspeakers and turning the music down some, he spoke to Cayde.

"Cayde, we're going to have a lot of competition in a few minutes, at least a hundred guardians are going to join our crusade, so you're going to be hard pressed to get the most kills." He said before turning the music back up. Cayde laughed at the news.

"Let them try! Hey, you hear this stream? I will pay ten thousand glimmer to the guardian who can beat me in kills!" Wraith turned his head to view the stream and almost paled as another 200 guardians took on the challenge. As the current song ended, he put on Overthrow by Boyz Noize, preparing for the fight for kills ahead. As the first wave of thralls started coming and about thirty guardians transmatted in to join the fun, Wraith let out a savage grin and turned the cannon on the closest group of thralls. He wasn't going to lose a bet to Cayde if he could help it.

Wraith sat back with a long exhale inside the sparking controls of the tank, and heard a slight clank as Cayde sat down on top of the scorched metal above him. The fight had lasted for hours, but eventually they had depleted the number of Hive so severely that the escalation towers could no longer draw them out. With all the Guardians that had streamed in, multiple towers had been activated at the same time, and eventually the fight had been dragged to the front of the Clovis Bray facility, and Ana, joined by The Stranger (who seemed very uncomfortable around Ana) was treated to a front row seat of one of the biggest exterminations of the Hive that had ever occurred. Someone at the tower had even dedicated a few supercomputers to a kill counter for Cayde and the other guardians, and somehow, Cayde had managed to stay at the top, his shots next to never missing.

The Drake, even after all that fighting, was still functional thankfully. Wiring sparked, displays flickered, and the armor was marked with so many shots and scorches it was probably going to have to be replaced, but it had held, and proved to be an amazingly fun experience. Especially when he ran that huge knight off the cliff. Since the Hive had stopped coming, a lot of guardians who had been there since the beginning were pretty drained, and started heading back home or off to other more relaxing work, a few sticking around to do other work, transfer bet winnings or losses, or to congratulate Cayde on winning.

Feeling the need to stretch his legs after all of that, he transmatted out of the tank and next to Cayde on the roof of the turret, stretching for a moment before sitting down next to him. A few guardians had noticed his appearance, drawing looks at how casual he was with Cayde.

"Helluva fight huh?" Wraith asked, leaning back on the hot metal. Cayde chuckled.

"You don't know the half of it. You think it was easy standing on top of a giant target getting shot at from every direction? I haven't had to move like that in years…." He said with a sigh.

"...but you haven't had that much fun in years either?" Wraith finished. Cayde grinned in response.

"Oi." Someone called. Wraith sat up to look at the female Warlock to the left of the tank who had called.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Who are you?" The Warlock asked.

"Wraith. I was driving the tank." He responded. "And you?"

"Echo-12. What's with the Rasputin fanaticism?" She asked. Wraith barked a laugh.

"It ain't fanaticism, it's the job uniform. I work with Rasputin." He responded before laying back against the tank to look at the sun before he recognized something familiar about the warlock. Sitting back up again he addressed her. "I feel like I know you. Have we met before?" He asked.

Cayde took interest in the conversation before he recognized why Wraith thought her familiar. Laughing, he shook his head in Nostalgia. "Well look at this! I know why she's familiar to you. I set you two together when you guys were starting out as guardians!" Wraith took a second to remember but when he did his eyes widened and he slid off the tank.

"Goddamn! Is that really you? I haven't seen you in at least twenty years!" He exclaimed. The warlock seemed to recognize him too finally as they shook hands.

"Are you really the same person? I remember when you started out you were an edgy murder machine. You really must have changed." She remarked. Wraith rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'll admit, I wasn't running on the best of emotions during that time, took me a bit to chill out and relax. Best decision I'd ever made though. Slowing down and looking at the bigger picture helped out a lot. What have you been doing since I last saw you? Last I heard, you were investigating the Hive on the moon." He asked. Before she could reply, Cayde laughed.

"Oh, she's been about as busy as you. Killed Crota, defeated Skolas, was part of the team that killed Oryx. Almost the same level as what you've done." Wraith stood in shock. How had he not heard? He knew that a female Warlock was making big moves, but he had never heard of a name. He guessed they were pretty similar after all.

Echo snorted. "Oh please, what else could he have been doing to match me?" She asked. Cayde grinned.

"Oh, you know, small things like killing the heart of the Black Garden, destroying Replication Chamber Six, defeating Ghaul just before the Traveler reawoke, finding Osiris and killing Panoptes, and saving Rasputin by killing the worm god Xol. Not much." He said with a lazy tone. It was Wraith's turn to look smug as Echo looked gobsmacked.

"Really." Was all she could say. Wraith laughed.

"Ooh, how about for old times sake you come along with us this week? I got Cayde out of the tower to have a tour of the system, we're probably going to hit up Io next. You interested?" He asked.

"Hmm… I dont really have any plans this week, I guess I'll tag along, for old times sake." She said. "Good job by the way Cayde, I couldn't even get close to your kills."

Cayde twirled his gun in a hand before blowing imaginary smoke from the barrel. "I told you, nobody can beat the Cayde."

Wraith had a shit eating grin. "About that….." He chuckled evilly.

* * *

 **A/N: Soooooo... I realize this has been a very long time in between updates. Destiny and GTA consumed my soul for a few months, especially when I went through the quest to get Thorn. (That quest can be absolute torture.) I am back though, and I'm going to try to bring back updates that aren't once every few months.**

 **ALSO, I have started creating a Destiny X Overwatch crossover that involves Wraith, and I would be happy to see if any of you are interested in the idea. Ive written a good bit of it already, but I wanted to see if yall would like one first before I released a chapter.**


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